10,000 Hairs On My Skin: The Story Of My Life As A Furball
by ernestgoestocamp
Summary: [A Raccoon Transformation story] [RocketxPeter/Bromance] After dabbling with an ancient artifact, Peter Jason Quill is affected with a curse that transforms him into the first creature he sees: and Rocket happens to be right next to him.
1. Prelude

**Hey guys, I wrote this story after looking at an artwork made by mika-moon called "Quill?!" which is also the cover for this story. You can find it on deviantart. Enjoy the story! **

"Web-cobs…check, vines hanging from the ceiling…check, skeletons scattered all over the floor…check, Patrice Rushen…check!" A man wearing a red jacket says out loud. He pulls out a cassette player and a set of headphones from his knapsack. He rests the cassette player on his belt and clicks on a button: he then puts on the headphones soon after music starts playing, the song "Hang it Up" can be heard faintly by the people standing next to him, who soon roll their eyes when he begins dancing.

"Oh please, now is not the time for this!" A green-skinned woman in white armor shouts. The man lifts off one side of the headphones, "What?"

"Is it really necessary to be using that right at this moment, Quill?" She asks.

"Of course." He places the headphone back on his head and she simply shakes her head.

"He's hopeless." An anthropomorphic raccoon retorts, moving ahead of the rest of the group, "I could never really understand Terrans."

"Hold it Rocket…we're not sure this place is safe-"

The man in the red jacket interrupts her train of thought when he dances his way through the dangerous corridor, appearing to avoid any traps set to kill any intruder.

"Our companion appears immune. This Terran music proves to be a useful tool for us." A humanoid with red tattoos all over his body says. His name is known as Drax the Destroyer.

"That's because the traps are thousands of years old." Rocket looks back toward the muscular humanoid with an angry expression, "How are we even sure this thing is still here?"

"We'll find out soon enough." She retorts before walking down the corridor to follow the human side by side.

"Oh that helps…" The raccoon looks around and groans, "There's nobody to shoot at…this is boring!" Rocket shouts loud enough for Peter to hear. After looking around the area a few more times, he looks up suddenly and then smiles evilly. He takes out several small devices from one of his pockets and places them on a wall.

Meanwhile, the Terran known as Quill enters a large circular room. The center of the room has several circular objects floating above decaying pillars. The ceiling is open to the sky, which reveals a bright blue moon and a bright green star. Once the human walks closer to the objects, the bright light that shines from the floating objects soon reveals identical stone tablets: which have an ancient language inscribed on them. The female warrior enters the room and stands next to Quill: she takes out an orb which lights the entire room evenly and sets it on the floor.

The human takes off the headphones and cassette player and stuffs them inside his knapsack, "I say we take all of them." He waves his finger at the tablets.

"And what if one is fake?" She asks.

"It's not like there's a few booby traps that the Guardians can't handle." He pulls out a gravity mine from his jacket and places it on the floor next to the pillar in front of him. He then pulls out another one and gives it to her, "Let's do this Gamora." He says and she nods.

"Behold, the Tomb of the Unknown Goddess." The red tattoo man says from the entrance, examining the ancient alien hieroglyphics on the walls and parts of the ceiling. He walks along the circular wall surrounding them and stops to inspect what appears to be another door which is closed shut.

"It has a sort of Indiana Jones vibe to it." Quill retorts.

After they place the rest of the devices on the floor, Quill activates them and they begin to force the tablets away from the pillars toward the devices themselves. Once they land on the gravity mines, two of the tablets suddenly disintegrate into dust while causing the gravity mines underneath them to disintegrate as well. The tablet next to the human remains intact. He grabs it and puts it into his knapsack. Quill then looks around the room and then smiles, "I don't see a boulder coming at us or spikes coming down from the ceiling, let's get back to the Milano."

Quill and Gamora begin walking towards the exit; however, they stop when their only way to get out suddenly closes just a few feet away, causing everyone to withdraw their weapons. The human and the alien warrior then look above them to see the roof suddenly close, trapping them inside the tomb. Drax hears a crumbling noise and looks toward the pillars which sink into the ground. Then, a very loud screech is heard from the large doors from which the muscular being is standing next to: he doesn't flinch or take a step back but instead unsheathes his knives, preparing to fight whatever is on the other side of the concrete doors.

Then suddenly, the large door bursts open and slams toward Drax, causing the warrior to be sent crashing toward the floor near Quill and Gamora: they immediately run towards their fallen comrade but stop when they see a colossal monster, a mixture between a feline and a reptile, appear from the darkness of the room which the door had covered previously.

"Um, who invited this thing to the party?" Quill asks, half-joking and half-sarcastic before he presses a device behind his head: it causes his entire face to be covered by a mask with red lens.

It screeches at them before it charges. Quill reacts by firing his Quad Blasters at the creature's head, but it doesn't stop the monster's charge toward the group.

Gamora jumps high into the air and lands on its head as Drax and Quill quickly side-step to avoid the lethal charge. Once it crashes into a wall, Drax retaliates by attempting to stab it in the heart with his twin knives: it's successful to an extent, for he was able to leave an open wound near his intended target; however, the creature roars in pain before it lifts its body into a bipedal position. Gamora had been trying to stab it in the head in order to ensure a swift death and the sudden movement from the creature causes her to almost loose balance: her sword drops on the ground away from the battle as she hangs onto its long fur. The feline/reptile then drops down on all fours once more, allowing Drax to attack. He attempts to strike again but the monster grabs him with one of its hands and tries to crush him afterwards. Quill fires his weapons at the monster's hand from which it is holding Drax but it proves ineffective, "Where's Rocket when you need him!?"

As if on cue, the doors from which they had arrived from is suddenly vaporized by an explosion: as the dust quickly settles it is revealed to be the anthropomorphic raccoon known as Rocket: he reloads his weapon, which is mounted on his shoulder, and rushes toward the group, "Really? I'm away for one minute and you've gotten yourselves in trouble?" He says.

"Less talking, more shooting!" Quill retorts, after examining what little life Drax may have had left.

"Drop those toys and use this instead Quill!" Rocket throws a small item towards the human who doesn't have enough time to catch it: it drops on the floor near him.

"You clumsy humie!" The raccoon responds.

"You didn't give me time to put away my blasters!" He puts away his Quad Blasters and picks up the device from the floor.

"It's not my fault you're not fast enough!"

"Oh stop it, both of you!" Gamora shouts from on top of the creature whilst holding on to its fur: its attempts to get her off become more violent.

Quill quickly examines the small device and presses a button which causes it to transform into a large rifle. Although surprised by how fast and sudden it transformed Quill pretended that he didn't react because of that, "A new one?"

"And you're surprised?" Rocket asks him in a tone as if he wants a review on his creation, "I designed it to be concealed easily."

"As long as it wasn't made with any parts from my ship…I'm cool with it." Quill retorts: he fires at the monster's arm and the blue beam that the weapon produces causes the arm to flinch violently as the monster screeches in pain. Drax is dropped by the monster and quickly gasps for air. The creature remains standing, however, because the wounds on the monster are then regenerated very quickly, and this catches the Guardians, as they are called, off guard.

Quill begins firing once more and Rocket enters the fray soon after: the raccoon fires his shoulder-mounted gun and it also releases a bright beam toward his enemy, while taking a large amount of recoil in the process, he is pushed backwards several feet. The initial blast hitting the creature's side is impressive but it unfortunately does not subdue it, much to Rocket's delight, "Finally a challenge!" he says.

The twenty foot behemoth then starts to run around the room at high speeds. Rocket puts the shoulder cannon on the floor. He then takes out another gun that was holstered on his back, his signature gun, which also transforms into its full size: he begins firing four rounds of heavy plasma at the monster, which destroys many parts of the wall from inside the tomb when they miss their target. Drax stands up and sees the monster heading toward him: Gamora shouts from on top of it, "Drax, give me my sword!"

Drax the Destroyer nods silently and picks up the impressive weapon from the ground. He aims carefully and then throws it vertically at her; however, another person grabs it in midair instead and it turns out to be the human known as Quill, who is flying in the air thanks to his special rocket attachments on his boots.

"Quill!?" She shouts in protest.

"Impressive catch." Drax says from afar.

Quill flies toward Gamora and hands the sword to her, "There you go Gam."

"Quill…" she says. The tone of her voice hints extreme anger and impatience, "…unless you want to be gelded, I suggest you never do that again!" She says before turning toward the team's heavy weapon specialist, "Rocket, stun it!" She shouts to him.

Rocket switches the fire mode and shoots a special variation of his weapon: a blue ball of energy escapes the muzzle of his rifle and strikes its target just after Gamora avoids the electric shock that surrounds the tomb's protector. The monster collapses on the ground very loudly and it causes a small tremor. Soon after, the female warrior proceeds to lift her sword toward the air above its head…and the rest is Darwinism.

Quill is the only one in the room to react to Gamora's deed, "Jeez…it was stunned…was that really necessary?"

"Funny I should ask the same thing." Gamora says to Quill and no one else. She grabs his jacket abruptly and brings him close, "Don't ever do a stunt like that again…if you think I will be impressed by mere showcase, you're sadly mistaken Peter Quill…"

"Whatttt…" Quill retorts, "How was that to impress you?" He smiles from behind the mask he is wearing on his face.

"Peter Quill…so help me!" She lets go of him, she starts to walk out of the tomb as Drax follows her. Meanwhile the genetically modified raccoon holsters his signature gun on his back and picks up his shoulder cannon, and starts to make his way out as well. Soon after, Rocket spits on the ground nearby, "This wasn't fun…I thought that thing was ganna put up a fight." Drax looks at Rocket with confusion, not knowing about the metaphor that the raccoon just said.

Quill shortly follows the group afterwards, but they all stop when they hear a strange noise coming from the other side of the tomb: the monster, with the fatal wound on its body, heals as it stands up again.

"How?" Drax asks.

"Who cares, more fun for me!" Rocket shouts before pointing his gun.

Quill runs toward them and moves the raccoon's gun out of the way, "Forget it, let's just go."

"You've got to be kidding! I can test out a lot of new guns and explosives on this guy! He's perfect!"

"Cry me a river!" Quill shouts as he exits the tomb.

"Let me just try out this new firing mode, just one shot!" The raccoon aims his gun again.

"You heard him." Gamora pulls Rocket out of the room as they all run down the hallway. Rocket mumbles angrily to himself, "You like to ruin everybody's day, huh..."

As they do, Quill examines the walls to see several blinking red dots on them, "R…Rocket…what did you do?"

"Oh, I wanted to test out my new mines."

The beast suddenly crashes into the entrance of the corridor and manages to squeeze through but has a hard time catching up to the four superheroes. Once Quill and the others make it to the end, they make a left into another room: a large spaceship and the entrance to the temple can then be seen.

Quill quickly presses a button on his wrist and it causes the ship to open. Everyone enters the ship and makes it to the cockpit: Quill and Rocket start the ship and take off immediately just before the behemoth enters the hangar to attack. The ship begins to head toward the exit of the temple and Rocket smiles mischievously afterwards, "Watch this." He presses a switch on a device he has pulled out. Suddenly, the ship shakes as the entire building they're in begins to collapse. Once it flies out of the temple and into the sky, everyone looks back to see the entire building explode with brilliant light: as soon as the light fades, what is left of the ancient temple is a heap of rubble.

"…Rocket…" Drax suddenly says to the raccoon as he turns toward him.

"…how does one cry a river?" Drax asks as the others stay silent.

Guardians of the Galaxy: 10,000 Hairs on My Skin: The Story Of My Life As A Furball

Chapter 1: Prelude

The Milano, a Ravager ship known to have participated in countless heists, is owned by the seemingly illustrious Peter Jason Quill. Peter himself had been a part of the notorious Ravagers, a group of space outlaws, for two decades: having grown an attachment to them…until recently.

There have been attempts by the leader of the Ravagers, Yondu Udonta, to contact Peter in the days since his betrayal on Morag and today was no different.

After reaching a safe distance from local outlaw hotspots, Peter and the others rest onboard the ship. Peter decides to check messages on his communication screen: fifteen out of twenty-five messages are from Yondu himself. Quill groans before checking the recorded messages.

After deleting the messages from Yondu, which was basically him ranting at Peter, he went to his room and closed the door behind him. On a counter was Peter's knapsack, the one Yondu gave to him years prior. He sits down on his bed with it and sighs softly, "Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass Yondu…"

He takes out the tablet from the bag and examines it, "100,000 Units…for something of that value, there must be something about it that Broker is not telling us about." Peter says to himself.

Suddenly, a knock on his door is heard and he opens it: Rocket enters and holds his paw out to the human, "My gun, now." Rocket aims a large pistol at Peter. The Terran lifts his arms in the air, "Rocket, can't you just ask like a normal person for once?" He hands the raccoon the weapon.

"Define normal Quill…"

"Well um…just ask me to give it back without pointing your gun at my face." Peter retorts.

"Whatever." Rocket says before he leaves. Soon after, Quill sighs and leaves the room to go to Gamora.

The warrior is cleaning her blade as the human knocks on the door, which is open, "Hey Gamora…listen, about what happened…"

She turns her head around; her face is stern, "Yes?"

"I didn't mean to show off like that."

"It seems like you did at the time." She retorts.

"What…no, I really-"

"Now you're lying to me."

"Alright, alright! I'm sorry okay? I just thought I needed to tell you."

She stares at him for a few seconds before saying, "Apology accepted, but I won't forget what happened."

Quill nods slowly, "Good to know."

Suddenly, a loud noise is heard from the center of the ship and Quill raises a finger, "I'll be right back."

Peter rushes to the communication screen and brings up a screen.

"This is Centurion Alkideth Uromoth of the Nova Corps, head of the Xandarian colony division 3C 48, requesting immediate assistance. An unknown group has attacked us, our shields are low and the base is in jeopardy. Once again, we require immediate assistance from any fleets nearby!"

Quill thinks for a moment and smiles before turning off the communication screen. He runs up to the cockpit and pilots the ship: he speaks into the microphone, "Gang, we're going to take a little detour, come up to the cockpit as soon as you can."

A minute later Drax, Gamora and Rocket, holding what appears to be a humanoid plant in a pot, enter the cockpit and sit down on the seats nearby with Rocket sitting in the co-pilot seat near Quill.

"What's the deal?" Rocket asks.

"There's a colony that needs our help." Quill responds.

The raccoon looks at him furiously, "We got more important things to worry about, like taking that tablet to the dealer."

Quill looks at Rocket, "It's close to us and they might pay us. Think of it like a bonus Rocket. Besides, it'll be fast I bet…nothing we can't handle right?" Peter turns to the others, "Does anybody else agree with me?"  
>Drax leans toward Quill and nods, "I stand by your decision Quill."<p>

"This is a waste of time." Rocket chuckles to himself but Peter is able to hear it, "Hey you said it yourself, you were bored." Peter retorts.

Gamora nods as well, "I agree with Drax, this is your ship and it's is for an honorable cause."

"I am Groot!" A high-pitched voice rings from the plant as Rocket looks down in surprise before looking at the others, who are staring at him, "Groot, you too huh…"

The Raccoon rolls his eyes and says, "Alright, let's go kick some ass."


	2. Battle of 3C 48

**Here's the next chapter, hope you guys enjoy.**

**Chapter two: Battle of 3C 48**

3C 48, a Nova Corps colony far away from Xandar, is located at the very edge of the galaxy: close to several star systems notorious for hiding dangerous outlaws. The Milano flies toward a moon, which is orbiting a ringed planet at break-neck speed much to Rocket and Drax's joy. Upon descending the moon's atmosphere, Drax himself laughs manically as the ship passes through countless dark clouds. After several seconds, the Guardians can see a large building complex: similar to a military outpost, and it's on a very tall cliff. Below the cliff is obscured by dark blue clouds. The base itself is under fire from several unknown aircraft that look similar to fighter jets on earth.

As it slows its approach, the Milano begins to engage several fighters.

"I'm not picking up any life forms inside those ships, they're drones." Quill tells the group after checking a screen on the dashboard.

"And now I'm pissed off." Rocket retorts.

Once the group can see a cluster of people in the ground running from the fighters, Quill firmly holds the ship's joystick and fires several shots toward one of the ships: destroying it completely.

After shooting down several fighters, a red icon appears on screen warning Quill of the danger that the ship is now in, "Hang on." He pulls back the joystick hard and the ship makes a somersault in order to destroy the aircraft pursuing the Milano.

Quill laughs, looking behind him at what used to be a ship, but Gamora yells at him, "In front of us!" he looks back and tries to make a dive to avoid the incoming ship; however, instead, it's destroyed by a Nova Corps starship from sideways.

Quill shrugs nervously as everyone looks at him, "Sorry guys."

The Milano continues to engage several more ships until the green-skinned warrior moves closer toward the dashboard.

"Since they're being controlled, there must be a mother ship." Gamora suggests.

"I am Groot!" The plant on the pot points a small hand toward the ceiling and everybody looks up.

"Excellent, let us pursue them." Drax says.

"That ship belongs to Nova Corps." Quill says.

_Not anymore._

Everybody looks toward the dashboard where the speakers are.

_Glad that you folks could come sooner than expected 'cause we got our hands dirty._

"I take it you're the one who sent the message?" Quill asks as he continues to engage several fighters, "How long has he been listening to us?" Quill whispers to Rocket as he shrugs.

_Correct. We don't know where these buggers came from but they appear to have come from some anomaly. Why don't you give us a hand, we got a transport ship carrying civilians that is about to take off, they could use all the help they can get._

"Will do Centurion guy." Quill says.

"…try to keep fighters off them as much as you can." The man hangs up.

"Alright, sounds easy enough." Quill tells the others but Rocket rolls his eyes in response.

The transport ship takes off along with several other Nova Corps ships and the Milano makes a sudden turn to the right to join the fleet. As it ascends, several drone fighters begin to engage and the NC ships break formation to retaliate. Quill pulls the Milano behind several of them and fires its turrets. After several more are destroyed, many more arrive.

"There's too many!" One of the Nova Corps ships is hit and falls toward the ground as the person inside ejects with a parachute.

"That's not good." Rocket says softly.

The Milano is suddenly struck by several blasts and Quill makes a decisive turn to the left to avoid any more damage.

"Rocket! Press the green button over there!" Quill points and Rocket presses the button which releases several missiles: they immediately head towards the targets behind the Milano. Once they are close enough, they explode into smaller missiles that target all of the fighters in the surrounding area. Unfortunately, when they are all destroyed, two small missiles manage to target the Milano.

Rocket sees the missile warning on the screen, "What kind of idiot has missiles that target his own ship!?" Rocket shouts.

"I didn't design the Milano smartmouth!" Quill retorts, "Besides, it was the only way to get them out of the way…hold on!"

The Milano heads towards two drone fighters which are engaging a Nova Corps ship and once it gets close enough it makes another somersault: causing the missiles to target both drones instead. After they are destroyed, the Guardians can see the transport ship leave the planet's atmosphere unharmed.

"Does any person here find it strange that those drones did not engage the civilian ship?" Drax asks.

"Who cares, the jobs done-" Rocket says.

_Attention, the control room requires assistance. We've been breached! We cannot continue communication._

"Flarking hell, this guy is getting on my nerves already." Rocket retorts.

The Milano turns around and heads toward the base and when it does arrive it lands near a building with a large satellite dish on top.

"Suit up and meet me outside." Quill orders the group as they all nod their heads.

…

After a minute, they all leave the Milano and search the area for any disturbances. Afterwards, they all come across a door that is locked. Peter puts on his mask and takes out one quad blaster, "It's locked…Rocket." Peter gestures everyone to back away.

The raccoon smiles as he takes out his signature gun and fires at the door, destroying it in the process. Once they get inside it is dark and the only light coming from inside are sparks from many electronics nearby.

"Hello? Anybody alive say so now." Quill almost jokingly says.

There is no response and Gamora heads toward a sign on the wall, "The control room isn't here."

"Then where?" Drax asks.

"Downstairs." Gamora leads the group as they take several stairs deeper into the facility. Once they arrive, they come across yet another door which gets Rocket to aim his gun again.

"Hold it right there." A man shouts from across the room. Everyone looks behind them and sees a Nova Corps soldier, dressed in heavy battle armor, walking toward them with a rifle drawn. Very soon after, several more soldiers surround the superheroes.

"Really…is it really necessary to point guns at the very people that saved your butts?" Quill asks as he removes his mask.

"Who are you?" The soldier asks in a deep voice.

"Stand down Ryker. The man is right." A figure appears from the darkness. He appears to have a large noticeable scar on his lip, cheek, and forehead: a sign that he endured pain in the past, "Where are you folks from?" He asks as the soldiers holster their rifles.

"My name is Star Lord and we're the Guardians of the Galaxy." Quill states proudly as he and Rocket make an overdramatic pose: Gamora sighs when she looks at them while Drax rubs his shoulder after some sparks land on him.

"Never heard you before." The man retorts as he looks at every member. Once he looks at Rocket he stares momentarily before he looks at Peter. Quill sighs after hearing this, "We saved Xandar from Ronan…come on man…" Quill responds.

The man looks up at them with surprise, "Then this should not be a difficult task for you. I'll make this as short as I can…the trouble makers breached the facility and are now making their way toward the system core: they're going to try and start a meltdown." The man explains, "There is a shortcut into the chamber that you folks can use to get there faster."

"Leave it to the Guardians." Quill starts walking ahead of the group but stops, "Um…where is it exactly?"

He pulls out something from his pocket, "Take this, it's a guide sphere…it'll lead you there." He fiddles with it until the metal ball begins to float in the air, "I've set the coordinates. Try to make it there as quick as you can Guardians…good luck."

"Hold on, why aren't you people coming with us?" Gamora asks, folding her hands impatiently.

"In order for the core to sustain itself long enough after it's been meddled with, we were making our way to the core's main energy supply room to give us more time to solve the problem." Ryker explains, "We can't let it meltdown or the entire star system could be in jeopardy."

"Makes sense." Quill retorts.

"May we have your name?" Drax asks the tall military man.

"The name's Alkideth Uromoth."

…

Quill and the others start to follow the device. Once the group makes a turn to the right, they come across another door.

"These doors are really asking for a redecoration." Rocket says before he points the gun. Gamora walks ahead of the group and presses a button on the wall which opens the door. Everyone goes inside but Rocket, "That's no fun…"

Once all four guardians enter the room, they travel across a catwalk until they reach what appears to be an elevator. They enter and the elevator descends several hundred feet. Once they arrive at the bottom they can see a circular opening and a ladder that leads further down the underground complex. The guide stops frequently as the group begins to climb down the ladder deeper into the facility. Once the ladder ends, the group comes across another catwalk followed by stairs that lead to the base of the facility. Once at the bottom Quill and the others can see a twenty foot door that is opened and bright light coming from inside, "Looks like they've already been here, so much for that shortcut." Quill says.

Everyone walks carefully inside and the bright light diminishes to reveal a massive circular room with a catwalk that leads to the colony's system core. Everyone stops when they see two figures: Both are hidden by black robes but one is much shorter than the other: almost Rocket's size to be more exact. They turn around and freeze in place.

Rocket walks ahead of the group and points his rifle at the duo, "So you're the bum heads behind this invasion." They say nothing in return, "You don't scare 'nobody with those costumes."

"It's over, you guys have had your fun…now you're going to back away from that thing and give up." Peter says, pointing his quad blaster at them, yet they also say nothing to him.

Suddenly, the guardians hear a loud thud behind them as they look back to see several small yellow figures surround them: each carrying what appear to be yellow swords.

"The one with the red jacket has the tablet…" The tall person in the robe says as his or her eye glows yellow. The person walks toward the guardians, "I suggest you give it to us."

"Oh, so threatening!" Rocket shouts back sarcastically, "I'm shivering."

The robed figure stretches out his/her arms as his/her wrist bands begin to glow yellow. Rocket loses his patience and shoots the invader; however, his blast appears to be blocked by some kind of yellow force field which the person uses to create a shockwave: it heads toward the guardians and they all fall to the ground. Afterwards, they get up quickly and prepare to fight.

"Attack!" Drax shouts loudly as everyone nods. The yellow monsters attack the group and everyone begins to slay each of them.

Gamora looks up to see the hooded figure jumping toward Quill and she also jumps into the air in order to retaliate. Gamora swings her sword but is surprised to see that the supposed leader of the invaders makes a yellow sword, with a cross-like symbol, appear out of nowhere. Gamora yells, continuing her jump as both swords make contact in midair.

Rocket tries to shoot the leader as the person is in midair, but he is interrupted by the shorter intruder. The raccoon jumps away and sees the hidden adversary unsheathe some sort of electric sword that has a small gun attached to it. Rocket simply laughs, "Try using a sword against this!" He fires four shots but the robed figure dodges every single one and eventually makes it to Rocket: he swings the "Gunblade" at Rocket and the guardian reacts by using his gun to stop the sword in its path. Rocket kicks the person in the stomach and that gets the foe off, next he tries to smack him/her with his gun but the person dodges it as they continue to fight.

Quill activates his rocket boots and fires at several yellow monsters that jumped into the air to stop him. Once they are all destroyed, he flies toward Gamora to help but is surprised to see that more monsters have appeared in midair to stop him. They begin to form weapons and Quill continues to shoot them until one slashes him from behind causing him to fall toward the ground in pain.

Drax impales his knives on one yellow creature as it disappears into yellow smoke. One jumps toward him and he throws his knife which destroys it. Afterwards, he runs toward his second knife, destroying any creature that gets in his way. When he picks it up, one rushes toward him with a sword and he dodges it: he then smacks the creature away with his arm. He laughs manically as he slices it in half.

At the same time as Drax is attacking the yellow monsters, Gamora lands on the ground with the hooded figure doing the same thing on the opposite side. They pause briefly before they charge at each other. Both of their swords come into contact and they hold for several seconds, "Who are you?" Gamora asks, "You fight like a Kree." Her breath can literally be felt by her foe that is just a few inches away.

"Funny I should say the same thing." The hooded figure retorts revealing her voice to be female, "You fight like one too, so what's the problem?"

Meanwhile, Quill stands up, after having been in extreme pain for several seconds, and runs toward Gamora to help, "Hang on!"

Beneath the hood of the person, her yellow eyes glow brightly as a strong energy force surrounds Gamora and Quill: causing them to be frozen in place. The hooded female walks toward Quill and slashes his Knapsack open, much to his horror, and grabs the tablet before it falls into the ground. Rocket, who's afar and still fighting, sees the events unfolding.

"We're done here, let's go!" She says to the smaller hooded figure that breaks away from Rocket and rushes toward her, much faster than the raccoon could do. Once there, the small figure grabs the tablet and holds it as the female intruder stretches her arms again. Rocket shoots a blue orb to stun them but it strikes yet another yellow force field; however, he is able to stop the energy keeping Gamora and Quill frozen. Both of them look toward the intruders as they appear to be teleporting themselves out of the room. Peter yells as he and Gamora charge at the duo: the human manages to grab the tablet from the smaller figure as Gamora slashes the female adversary.

Once the green-skin warrior swings her sword, a bright force field covering the face of her enemy is seen: Gamora is able to see a human-like face thanks to the brightness of the shield. From what she can see it is a female with white hair and a yellow tattoo covering one eye.

Peter and the smaller hooded person hang on to the tablet as it begins to glow white. The human yells as it gets brighter.

"Phyla…look!" The small person shouts.

The female looks at Peter, "No! You idiot! You've activated it!" She shouts to him.

As both the human and his foe struggle with the ancient artifact, Quill, thanks to the brightness of the tablet, can see a face that he thought he wouldn't see in anyone else but Rocket: the face of another Terran animal.

Before he can react, both the yellow energy coming from the two foes and the tablet's light explode as a shockwave. Both Gamora and Peter are thrown back as Rocket covers his eyes from the intense brightness. A few seconds after the brightness subsides, the enemies that they were determined to stop were gone and Drax sees the last of the yellow monsters disappear into nothingness as the shockwave hits him: he turns his head back to see the remnants of the explosion and rushes to help the others as Rocket follows him.

Gamora sits up and rubs her neck in pain, "What was that…"

"Fantastic, we let them take the tablet!" Rocket arrives as he shouts, holstering his weapon, "I knew this was a bad idea from the start but you idiots were too dumb to realize it."

Drax arrives and lends Gamora a hand, "Where's Quill?" He asks.

"Yea, where is that humie. I bet he ran off to leave without us." Rocket retorts.

Rocket and the others look around: they see his red jacket and pants on the floor. Their faces quickly change into dread and worry, "Quill!?" they all shout as they run towards his pile of clothes.

"He was vaporized." Drax says.

"Well no shit captain obvious!" Rocket shouts as he kicks the human's clothes, "I can't believe this-" Rocket suddenly stops when he feels something moving inside.

"Rocket, what is it?" Gamora asks.

"I swear I felt something move inside his jacket." The raccoon moves the clothes around until he sees a creature inside and they jump back in confusion. The Guardians of the Galaxy stand there, speechless, as they stare at a raccoon roughly the same size as Rocket. As they try to make sense of what's happening, Rocket thought for several seconds as to whom it could be and it was obvious who it was. He didn't even need to sniff the creature to confirm his suspicions. He jumps back in surprise again, "Quill!? But how can that be!?"

"This thing is Peter Quill?" Drax asks loudly.

Gamora thinks for several seconds, "Those two probably did this to him…" Gamora says softly.

Rocket looks back at them and to Quill several times, "Well, what the flark do we do!?"

"We should be thankful that he's not dead. Maybe we can fix this." Gamora says in an officious tone, "Let's take him back to the ship and pursue them."

"How? We don't even know where they went off to!" Rocket retorts.

"I think I know where they went. Let's go." Gamora picks up Peter's clothes, with him inside them, in her arms as she runs out of the room: the others follow her.

…

Meanwhile at the core's energy supply room, Alkideth and his team have successfully stabilized the system core for the time being. Ryker pulls up a screen and the group sees a yellow beam heading towards the stolen Nova Corps ship. Soon after, it begins to move away from the moon.

"All ships, do not engage. There are hostages onboard." Alkideth says into a small headset he has on.

"Sir, they appear to be heading to KQ-29." Ryker says.

"Well spike them then! Make sure that's where they are really heading off to."

Ryker tries to trace the ship's destination as he sees the Milano headed towards the Nova Corps ship, "Sir, look."


	3. Strange Hairs On My Skin

**Hey folks, I am back with another chapter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter three: Strange Hairs On My Skin**

The Milano leaves the moon's upper atmosphere, tailgating the stolen Nova Corps ship in the process. Rocket, who is now piloting the ship, is silent and shows little emotion. Despite this, he growls before he open fires at the fleeing space ship.

Peter is not inside the cockpit with Rocket but is instead in his room. Gamora has placed him on his bed and she has been looking silently at him for a few minutes: the human is now, inexplicably, a small furry creature and is still unconscious from the blast that happened earlier. Even though Gamora didn't appear as surprised as the others when Peter transformed, in fact she and Rocket tried to hide this emotion, the warrior is coming to terms with it.

She didn't know if the creature was actually Peter and even if it was would he even remember her. It was strange because this 'rodent', as Gamora calls them, looks almost like Rocket himself: almost like an identical clone. After several more minutes of waiting, she hears 'Peter' suddenly groan.

Meanwhile, Rocket bangs his paws against the controls very hard, wanting to destroy the enemy ship out of anger. He didn't care if the two mysterious opponents had the tablet inside; he continues to fire the weapons as he growls.

Suddenly, a small portal opens and the massive ship begins to stretch. Rocket, Drax, and Groot stare as the Nova Corps ship continues to stretch until it's very thin: it enters the small portal and vanishes before the portal explodes into nothingness. The raccoon bangs his first on the dashboard and almost makes a dent on it, "Bastards!"

Rocket sits on his chair and fiddles with his hands, trying to keep his mind off what just happened.

Drax leans toward him, "The coordinates…is it possible that we can follow-"

"Not when they use some kind of interdimensional portal to escape!" Rocket retorts, he jumps out of his chair and grabs Groot, "It's over, I'm done."

On the other side of the ship, the furry creature on the bed wakes up.

"Peter?" Gamora says as she leans forward. The creature slowly opens its brown eyes and looks at Gamora, "Man…my head hurts…wait…" the voice of Peter Quill can be heard from the raccoon which disturbs Gamora: she stares at him in disbelief.

It sits up and rubs its head, "What happened? We were fighting…and I was holding the tablet…and then there was a flash…Gamora?"

"Peter, something happened, but I'm not sure how to explain this to you." She stands up.

"Explain what?" He tilts his head in confusion. He moves the blankets out of the way and manages to catch a glimpse of his arm and hand: he freezes in place, "Wh...what…" He brandishes his hands before his face and begins to panic.

"Peter, whatever happened in the chamber, somehow you were changed."

Peter hops out of his bed but collapses into the ground and sees that his feet have changed as well.

"What is this!?" He begins to shout. He barely stands up and wobbles toward a full-body mirror which he has in his room. The next thing Gamora hears is a deafening scream.

Rocket heads toward his living quarters in anger until he stumbles upon Gamora and Peter's yell. Gamora is just outside the room when she sees him.

"Rocket…" She says as the raccoon sees Peter inside, who turns to face him. Rocket forces his way inside the room and both stare at each other on the same eye level. Groot, who is being held by his best friend, gasps in surprise, "I am Groot?"

"Rocket, what's going on…why do I look like…you." Peter barely manages to say, "Oh man…this isn't happening…this can't be real…"

Rocket, just like Gamora, is surprised to hear Peter's voice from this creature, but he tries to hide it as much as possible, "How the flark should I know? You were the one who messed around with the tablet in the first place."

Gamora looks at Rocket with confusion, "You're not surprised Rocket?"

Rocket turns toward her, "No, I'm pissed off! We lost the tablet and now we've got to deal with Quill who's now naked!"

Quill looks down and covers himself afterwards, "It's not my fault I just shrunk three feet!" Peter retorts, "Where's my ravager get up?" He asks. Gamora points to a chair where his human clothes are, "I doubt they will fit your frame now." Gamora says as Peter looks at them.

Rocket slaps his hand on his head in frustration, "Somebody give this idiot clothes." Rocket retorts.

Everyone looks at the raccoon and he looks back with an even angrier expression, "What!?"

"Rocket, you must have spare clothes for him…" Gamora asks and the raccoon groans, "Oh fine!" the raccoon stumbles out with Groot as the humanoid plant speaks with him, "I don't know buddy…it's a weird day…"

Quill wobbles toward a towel that he has on a counter and he wraps it around his hips to cover himself.

Drax enters the room and stares stupidly at Quill, "Let me guess, you want an explanation?" Peter asks Drax as he nods.

Some time passes by before Rocket returns. He sees Peter staring at himself in the mirror, still horrified by his appearance. From what Rocket can see, Peter looks surprisingly similar to him in a lot of ways: with the exception that Rocket has a sterner expression on his face. Other than that, people will be confused as to who Peter is and who is Rocket; however, unlike Rocket, Peter does not have the cybernetic implants that he has. Rocket enters the room and brandishes a blue jumpsuit to Peter. He grabs it and after a few moments of silence and stares from everybody else, he says, "Um…guys, get out. Go wait upstairs…I'll see you there." Everyone leaves but Rocket, who Peter calls for attention, "Thanks buddy."

"Whatever, I hate the blue color of that suit anyway." The raccoon says before leaving.

After a few minutes figuring out how to put on the blue jumpsuit, Peter, once again, examines himself in the mirror. He still thinks that it's all a dream…until he grabs one hair from his arm and pulls it out. He yelps in pain, "Oh man…how could this happen…I…look just like…" He looks away and makes a stern expression, "Okay Peter…let's just get this over with…the sooner we fix this the better…" He says to himself.

Before leaving, Peter sees himself again: more specifically his eyes…they were different from the ones he was born with. With a heavy sigh, Peter Quill leaves his room and heads toward the Milano's recreation room and finds the others there, all sitting down. They stand up and look at his new appearance.

"Holy Pama…" Gamora says softly, looking at the former human, "I can't see the difference between the two…"

"Rocket's implants." Drax suggests, "Quill is missing them."

"Idiots, I'm wearing my orange jumpsuit like always." Rocket retorts, "Quill will never be like me." The tone of his voice suggested that the raccoon was worried, but no one knew this.

"As long as we speak differently, dress differently, and act differently, then I'm okay until we fix this." Peter responds, "Now…how did this happen…anybody know?" He sits down as the rest of the Guardians join him.

"I think it had to be those two that we had fought." Gamora suggests.

"Or perhaps it was tablet..." Drax retorts.

"Which they now possess." Gamora retorts as well.

"So either way...we need to find out where they've gone too." Peter interrupts their conversation.

"If the tablet can transform you into Rocket's form, then imagine what it can do if it fell into the hands of the Kree." Gamora stands up, "Rocket, do you know where they might have gone to."

"No idea princess…" Rocket says as he fiddles with a gun he had taken out earlier, "All I know is that they went through some kind of portal and vanished…"

Drax looks at Rocket, "Is it possible that the portal mimicked quantum energy?" Drax asks.

"Well I don't know Drax, maybe you should have paid attention…of course it did!" Rocket retorts.

"Wait, hold up…quantum energy? Quill asks the muscular being and the raccoon.

Gamora nods to herself, "Drax may be going somewhere with this." Drax looks at her with confusion, "Going where?" He asks but she rolls her eyes.

"The yellow energy coming from one of those intruders…it did look like quantum energy to me and I've seen only a handful of sentient beings use that kind of energy…especially with that amount." She explains.

"Hello? Does anyone want to answer my question…what is quantum energy?" Quill asks.

"Teleportation." Rocket says to Quill.

"When we were fighting, I noticed the wrist bands that the female warrior was wearing…they glowed yellow whenever she fought…maybe we can find out where they come from by visiting-"

Suddenly, a loud noise can be heard from the communication dashboard. Peter hops off his seat and, with some struggle, makes it to the table where he tries to press a button. Gamora walks toward him and presses the button instead and Peter jumps on a chair and stands on it. A screen shows both Alkideth Uromoth and Ryker, still inside the base.

"Much appreciated for your help today, but we still have problems." Alkideth says.

Gamora looks down at Peter and he looks up at her, "We kind of figured." Peter says after looking back at the screen.

"Yes well…our Nova Corps ship appears to be heading toward the KQ-29 sector." Alkideth retorts.

"KQ?" Gamora asks herself.

"KQ…I'm not familiar with that quadrant." Peter says.

"Explain." Gamora says to the Nova Corps.

Ryker looks at them, "Our database tracks our ships, so if this is correct…the ship is in the far side of the Keystone Quadrant. The ship is carrying hundreds of hostages, and…"

"And…?" Peter asks.

"And the entire quadrant is blocked off by some kind of force field, so I'm not sure if we can even get to the hostages at all. If you folks can figure this out, it would be much appreciated. We'll try to negotiate with the terrorists in the meantime." Ryker says.

"Alright, but we better get paid for this." Peter says.

"If you rescue the hostages…we'll give you a generous amount." Alkideth claims.

"Define generous." Gamora asks.

"…50,000 Units."

"You can do better than that." Peter retorts.

Alkideth and Ryker talk privately before Alkideth says, "100,000."

Peter looks at Gamora and she nods, "It's worth as much as the tablet. If we get it back, that's 200,000 Units in the bag." He tells Gamora. The raccoon looks at them, "Alright, you've got yourselves a deal."

"We're sending you the coordinates, hurry." Ryker ends the transmission. He turns toward his superior officer and asks, "Sir, did you notice that the creature standing on the chair sounded like the Terran male from earlier."

"Oh…and what makes you think it's him?" Alkideth asks.

"I'm not sure but I have some notion."

"Well, you can think about it while you go help the others with the mess upstairs, dismissed." Alkideth orders him.

"Yes, sir." Ryker salutes before he turns around. His face turns dark before he leaves.

Meanwhile, Peter and Gamora return to the others, "Alright team…we got a new job." Peter puts his hands on his hips.

Rocket folds his arms as Drax holsters a knife that he was sharpening.

"The guys back on the moon gave us the whereabouts of the Nova Corps ship…" Peter says.

"And they're willing to pay a substantial amount should we cooperate." Gamora adds.

"Oh yea…and where are they now?" The raccoon asks.

"According to the big, gruff dude…KQ-29. Apparently in a sector called the Keystone Quadrant." Peter explains.

Right after Peter reveals the name, Rocket's expression suddenly changes from his usual hardy self to a more fearful one.

"Rocket, what's wrong…" Gamora doesn't finish because she realizes what Rocket became afraid of.

Rocket stands up from his seat and begins to panic, "Half…Halfworld!?" he shouts, "I'm done here… there's no way I'm going there again!" He walks away from the group. Peter follows him, while trying to get used to walking on his new legs, to try and calm him down, "Rocket!"

"Quill, you're not getting me to go back there!" Rocket says before Peter realizes what Halfworld is, "Ohh…" Peter tries to catch up with Rocket.

"Rocket, what can I do? It's not my fault these guys decided to go there." Peter walks beside the raccoon, who is making his way back to his room.

"I say we forget about this and go on with our lives!" Rocket tells his fellow raccoon.

"How can I do that when I'm stuck like this!?" Peter retorts.

"The change is an improvement!" Rocket shouts back at him.

"Rocket." Peter grabs the raccoon's arm with his paws and this causes Rocket to turn towards him and look at him angrily. The stare coming from him makes Peter uncomfortable. Despite this, Peter takes a deep breath, "Listen Rocket, we're here for you."

Rocket moves Peter's arm away.

"Please hear me out…we need to fix this problem…things are different now…you're not alone anymore. In fact, I bet we can teach those Halfworld scientists a lesson or two." Quill smiles: a smile that resembles both Rocket's and his usual human smile. Rocket looks at Peter and frowns even more.

"They weren't scientists…they were robots…they made me like this…and you don't care about me, you only want to turn back into a humie!"

"Do I really look like I don't care about you Rocket?" Peter points his hands toward himself, but Rocket turns around and continues walking, "If you hate Halfworld so much…let's go get the tablet and then blow the planet up…how does that sound buddy?" Quill retorts.

"I'm not going back." Rocket enters his room, "If you bother me, I'll shoot you." He closes the steel door tightly.

Peter's expression darkens. He looks toward Gamora, "What are we going to do?" Peter asks, "We need to change his mind."

"Remember what he told us at Knowhere…he was tortured. It's going to take a lot more to convince him." Gamora responds, "There must be another way."

"Let's just go straight to Halfworld." Peter suggests, "Forget about Rocket." Gamora shakes her head, following him.

"Wait Peter…remember what they said…the quadrant is protected by some kind of wall. I have a suggestion…there might be another way to get inside. I'm going to go make a reservation." Gamora walks away, leaving the raccoon-transformed human all alone, "For what…dinner!?" He shouts.

A few minutes later, Peter is sitting quietly on a chair until he sees Gamora, "What was that about?"

"I made a reservation to see the Collector."

"Gamora, you're kidding…when we went to him one of his assistants almost destroyed the entire place!" Peter retorts.

"You have a better idea Quill?" Gamora asks, folding her arms with impatience, "Because you could just stay this way for all I care."

Peter's ears droop as he groans.

"Let's hurry to Knowhere." She tells him.

Peter and Gamora arrive at the cockpit and Peter sits down on his seat as Gamora sits on the co-pilot's seat, "Okay...setting the coordinates now." He suddenly becomes frustrated because his smaller size now limits his ability to reach the controls on the dashboard. That is until he asks Gamora to adjust his seat, "I really want to get this over with…" Peter says to himself. He pushes the joystick forward as the ship speeds off into deep space.


	4. The Trip to Knowhere

**Hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter, enjoy!**

**Chapter four: The Trip to Knowhere **

In the darkest corner of known space, there is a place where infamous outlaws and minorities reside for a few well earned drinks or to find much needed work. And recently, there was now more work to be found here because of an incident that occurred a few weeks earlier; an incident that caused considerable damage throughout the delicate facilities found within this oasis in space…all because of one man…Drax The Destroyer.  
>The Milano arrives and Peter slows the ship down as it approaches the floating head that was once part of a celestial being. Inside this head is where all the outlaws and minorities live and work: it is known simply as Knowhere.<p>

As the ship approaches a landing platform, the cockpit is quiet until the raccoon known as Peter Quill turns toward Gamora, "So…what made him say yes?" He asks.

Gamora turns to him, "He never says no to rare artifacts…no matter how dangerous they might be."

Quill thinks about the events that transpired a few weeks ago, "Even though we pretty much trashed his place and made Knowhere a warzone…?" Quill retorts, raising a furry eyebrow.

"First of all…it was not our fault Quill…it was that foolish red haired Krylorian's fault for touching the stone-"

"Oh yea…" Peter remembers, "And Drax also acted goofy…" Quill interrupts, "Okay, as long as it's only the two of us and the rest of the team is inside the ship, there might not be a problem." He says, "I just hope frosted flakes won't be angry with us when we see him." Peter jokingly says.

The Milano lands close to the Collector's museum. Peter and the green-skinned warrior unbuckle their seat harnesses. Peter looks at her again, "Alright, you ready?" He asks as Gamora nods.

Gamora follows Peter downstairs where he confronts Drax, who is still sharpening his knives.

"Drax, keep an eye on Rocket until we get back…think you can do that?" Peter orders and asks him as Drax silently nods, "thanks." Peter says.

They leave the ship and walk towards a dystopian shopping arcade: where they are greeted by hundreds of people, big and small, round and thin, with some of them passing by and begging others to buy their merchandise. Peter and Gamora look up to see several mining pods flying overhead. When Peter looks back at the people passing by them, most of them are looking at him as if he was a meal or a weakling and this made Peter very nervous. He actually wanted to hide behind Gamora's leg for shelter but he refused: despite the fact that he had no access to weaponry.

"Hey lady." A deep male voice rings from the crowd. Gamora and Peter turn around to see a Darbian, which is an alien race that look like Terrans but are much bigger in size. He has a large sword holstered on his belt and he seems ready to use it.

"Yes?" Gamora simply asks.

"The creature beneath you, is he yours?" The man asks and Peter narrows his eyebrows, "What?"

"I'll buy him for 5,000 Units."

"I'm worth much more than that." Quill retorts.

Gamora narrows her eyebrows as well, "He's not for sale." She turns around and begins walking away with Quill.

"10,000 Units, he'll make a great stew." Peter hears this from the man and gets scared. The raccoon backs away slowly as Gamora looks back, "For the last time Darbian, he's not yours to take."

"Is that so?" The man withdraws his sword and brandishes it toward Gamora, "I'll give you ten seconds to give him up."

Gamora, with lightning speed, draws her sword and slices the man's sword in half with ease. The Darbian backs away afterwards, "Okay, you've got spunk…don't think I'm the only one who wants to eat your rodent." The man melts into the crowd and disappears. Gamora sighs and holsters her sword and looks down at Peter, "We're close." She tells him. This time, Peter hides behind Gamora without her knowing about it.

Several minutes later, they arrive at the entrance to the Collector's domain, Gamora approaches what appears to be a floating robot: it sees her and scans her eyes and then it flies away to notify the Collector. Then, both sit down on a bench nearby and wait.

Meanwhile on the Milano, Drax has finished sharpening his knives and is now viewing the outside of the ship from the security cameras. He scans countless people until he manages to see two familiar figures. He does not hesitate: he opens the door of the ship and heads toward the marketplace.

The door leading into the Collector's museum opens and the robot emerges from inside. Gamora and Peter stand up.

_Your presence has been granted, please follow._

They follow the robot and the moment they enter the museum they can see hundreds of exhibitions being repaired by countless robots. They are led to the center of the room, which is also being repaired, and they can see a man inspecting an artifact: he turns around to see Gamora. The man has a much dozed expression on his face and is wearing a white coat on his back. His name is Taneleer Tivan but he is known universally as The Collector.

"Collector, we have questions for you." Gamora says. The moment she says that, he looks down at Peter and raises an eyebrow, "You brought…him?" He asks, raising an eyebrow, thinking that Peter is Rocket.

"Actually It's me snowball." Peter says, crossing his arms in anger. Tivan cringes for a split second upon recognizing the voice, obviously surprised by the sudden revelation.

"This is Peter Quill, the tall man who wore the Ravager uniform."

"…and how did he manage to shift…form?" The Collector asks.

Peter becomes confused: why didn't the Collector ask him this question directly to him? Then, Peter knew why and this only made him angrier. Now he knew exactly how it felt for Rocket when they were here a few weeks ago.

"Apparently it was the work of a female warrior…one who has-" Gamora says.

"It was the tablet." Peter retorts, interrupting her, "It was glowing before I passed out."

Gamora retorts, "That doesn't mean-".

"Tablet?" Tivan becomes interested.

Gamora sighs before looking at the man, "We had acquired a tablet on the planet Atar in an abandoned tomb."

"Interesting…" Tivan turns around and starts walking away, "The tablet of Andronica…do you have it?"

"Had…it was stolen." Peter says.

"Un…fortunate." He looks down at Peter with some degree of aggressiveness. Peter raises an eyebrow, "I kind of figured."

A robot passes by and hovers next to The Collector: _you have new visitors, they will arrive soon._

"Very well…" He turns to the duo, "Perhaps my new companion will help you for the remainder of your stay." Tivan gestures a hand toward a walkway, "Come."

The green skinned warrior's voice gets louder, "Now hold it Collector…we came a long way to have questions answered!"

Tivan ignores Gamora and walks down a catwalk. Peter and Gamora both sigh before they follow him, eventually reaching a dark room.

"Try not to get too close…he…bites." Tivan says before the door shuts behind the duo and envelops the room in darkness.

"Somehow I knew this was a trap!" Peter yells. Gamora unsheathes her sword while Peter backs away until his back hits the door.

"Stranger, keep your hands free from that weapon." A voice rings nearby: the echo coming from the voice surprises the Guardians. Gamora narrows her eyes to try and see. Suddenly, a blue light appears and both Peter and the female warrior gasp.

"So…you been comink here to change back into your old self?" A creature asks. From what they can see: the person is actually a talking dog in a spacesuit.

Peter stares at the alien with his brown eyes, which he had recently acquired thanks to the transformation, and then he frowns, "You're…a dog?"

"And you're a raccoon…a Terran mammal." It says, "Should this surprise you?"

"Enough…who are you?" Gamora suddenly shouts.

"…I am Cosmo, chief security officer of Knowhere." The dog walks closer to them: it lights up the room and the room reveals to be a place filled with digital control panels and viewing screens: so he can observe the entire vicinity.

"Since when?" Peter asks.

"Must Cosmo answer this question…Cosmo became chief security officer after the incident with Ronan, which you Guardians have foolishly brought…"

"How can a creature like you hold such a prestigious title…especially in a place such as Knowhere?" Gamora asks.

Cosmo is not offended and looks up at the warrior, "Cosmo is fluent in telepathy…"

"A telepath…oh really…what am I about to say-" Peter crosses his arms.

"For your sake, Cosmo will stop you-" Peter frowns as a result.

Gamora crosses her arms, "If this is the case, then you must know why we're-"

"Here…yes…Cosmo knows why…at first when your friend…Rocket…walked by a few weeks ago he was very similar to how you look now…your appearance is almost the same."

"This was already known by us." Peter retorts.

"It's a permanent effect caused by tablet…Star Lord." The dog responds.

Peter's eyes widen as his face falls, "What!?" Peter screams as he shakes his head after hearing this, Gamora raises an eyebrow, "How?"

"The tablet was locked away in the tomb for good reason…it allows the person holding it to become the first creature he or she sees…in this case…Star Lord touched tablet and saw a raccoon before his transformation."

"But the creature I saw when the tablet glowed was-"

"Not a raccoon?" Cosmo interrupts, "From reading your mind I can see that you activated tablet when you and your friend were inside your ship."

"Then why didn't he transform there?" Gamora asks calmly.

"Star Lord was touching artifact too much, and his friend entered: the tablet registered the human as a potential host and when he tried to save tablet in the lunar base, it was accidentally activated."

Gamora taps her foot on the ground repeatedly, "So it can save its effect for later events-"

"Please…there must be a way to fix this…" Peter moves closer to the dog, his paws hitting the floor as he does, "I can't stay this way!"

"Fortunately for you Star Lord, there is a way…" Cosmo says.

"But you said it's permanent?" Gamora retorts.

"Unless Star Lord can retrieve tablet and have both parties touch at same time."

"Why didn't you say that before!? You gave me a heart attack!" Peter shouts in response, swinging his arm outwards in anger. Soon after, the raccoon takes in large amounts of air, relieved of the sudden revelation.

"Because Star Lord…I wanted to see your reaction." The dog laughs.

"Not funny man…jeez…"

"Then this raises another question…" Gamora walks closer to the space dog.

"How does Cosmo know this?" Cosmo retorts.

"Stop that." Gamora warns Cosmo, "Very well." he says, "A young warrior came and asked if Collector had tablet: Collector asked what it was and person explained."

"Warrior…" Gamora said as Peter dabbles with his new paws, apparently now bored.

"Okay look...how do we get to Halfworld? The tablet is there right now." Quill retorts.

"To get to Halfworld…it's same as one tries to escape…it is almost impossible to enter." Cosmo explains, walking back and forth as he says this.

"There must be a way…teleportation or something." The raccoon asks.

"Yes…teleportation is possible…ahh…Cosmo understands now…" the dog reads Quill's mind, "Quantum energy…the only person Cosmo knows who uses such energy is…"

…

"Thieves!" Drax shouts toward a crowd just outside the museum. Two hooded figures look back toward the muscular giant and then look at each other, "Return the tablet to us!" Drax points at them. Soon after, they run and Drax gives chase.

Inside the Milano, Rocket gets bored and leaves his room while making sure that no one is around. He has just found out that the group has landed in Knowhere, so he goes toward the security dashboard and checks the screen.

"What are these idiots up to?" Rocket says to himself. He searches the ship for everybody but Rocket and Groot are the only people inside. The raccoon checks the recordings that the ship had captured when they landed and he eventually sees Star Lord and Gamora leave the ship, Rocket frowns slightly. He fast forwards and sees Drax leave, following two hooded figures in the process. Recognizing them immediately Rocket grins, thinking that they could fix this problem and change Peter back to normal.

"Heh…looks like I'm going hunting." Rocket goes back into his room where Groot is waiting for him. He grabs his gun and cocks it back. The plant looks worried as it watches him pass by, "Don't worry buddy…I'll be back. Stay in here no matter what." Rocket closes the room.

"I am Groot…"

Rocket leaves the ship, ready to shoot anybody who gets in his way: he walks into the crowd but is eventually stopped by the same Darbian who approached Peter and Gamora, "You're alone now, your friend isn't here to help you…I will feast-" He runs toward the raccoon, thinking that it's Peter, but Rocket aims and fires his gun at the man: causing him to fall on the ground: overwhelmed by pain.

"The only thing you'll 'feast' is 10 million volts of electricity from my gun." Rocket retorts.

…

After running through hundreds of people, the two thieves stop by the door of the museum and a robot comes out, _your presence has been granted, please follow._

They go through the doors, following the robot in the process. Drax arrives and tries to enter but the doors close shut before he is able to. He tries to punch a hole into it but the doors remain undamaged.

…

"Phyla-Vell?" Peter raises an eyebrow as he crosses his arms, "Sounds like something I learned in science class…"

"Yes Star Lord: she is a half-Kree." The last part of the sentence was directed towards Gamora.

"That explains her fighting techniques." Gamora retort.

The raccoon looks up at her and tilts his head in confusion, "Wait…so you're saying-"

"The female warrior who we fought in the lunar base is this half-Kree that the dog speaks of."

Peter looks back at Cosmo, "How do you know her?"

Gamora steps in, interrupting Peter in the process. Her expression is slightly surprised, "I see the connection now…the tablet and her…she's the one who asked."

"Correct." Cosmo simply says.

"Why…what did she want the tablet for?" Peter asks.

"To keep it safe from-"

…

Meanwhile, Rocket arrives at the scene and finds Drax: who looks back at him, "Rocket! It is good to see your familiar furry face, help me open this treacherous door."

"What's the matter Drax…can't open such a flimsy door?" Rocket taunts the muscular man and the man looks down in anger.

"Step back unless you wanna get shot." Rocket tells him: he takes out his signature gun and aims at the large twin doors.

Peter, Gamora, and Cosmo suddenly hear a loud explosion before the duo leave the room to see what happened: leaving Cosmo behind to call security.

Peter and Quill freeze when they see the two hooded figures standing alongside Taneleer Tivan. The Collector, who's about to grab the tablet, takes a step back from them. On the other side of the museum is Rocket and Drax: both with their weapons drawn. They all freeze in place: the two hooded figures stare at Rocket.

"What is the meaning of this!? Those doors were expensive to repair, how dare you…barge in here without permission…" The Collector walks in front of the mysterious people and shouts.

"You better move you walking carpet or I'll shoot you too!" Rocket shouts. Gamora unsheathes her sword, "So it's you…give us the tablet." She says, pointing the sword at them.

The taller hooded figure pushes Taneleer aside, causing him to fall down on the ground in a pit, "Fool, where is your friend?"

"Right over here silly!" Peter shouts. They turn towards the raccoon wearing the blue jumpsuit.

With them distracted, Rocket takes this opportunity to start shooting; the taller hooded figure covers the shots with her cloak: on the other side of the now ruined cloak is a yellow shield and what appears to be a female warrior. She is wearing a blue cape and a red jumpsuit with what looks like a yellow cross-like symbol near her chest. Her hair is white as snow and she has a yellow tattoo running down her face where her right eye is: which is glowing yellow.

"So…you're-"

"I'm Quasar, protector of the universe." The person says while giving the tablet to the smaller person. She then makes a large yellow sword appear in her hands.

"In other words, you're the one with the bad science name." Peter retorts.

"You're anything but a protector." Gamora jumps toward her but Quasar blocks her sword: both begin to exchange blows as Rocket starts shooting the other hooded being.

As Phyla and Gamora's swords clash, Phyla says, "I won't let anyone get in our way!"

"Good to know, me too." Gamora responds as she lands a strong blow on Quasar's sword, but then Quasar retaliates by creating a high-energy beam from her sword that strikes Gamora: she is sent falling towards the ground. Before Phyla can attack again Drax jumps in and tries to stab her with his knives. Phyla responds by creating a shield that once Drax hits with his knives it explodes and sends him falling on his back. Phyla is about to finish Gamora off but then hears several guns cocking back: she turns toward the entrance to see Ryker and several Nova Corps along with Knowhere security pointing guns at her: they fire. Immediately afterward, Gamora and Drax move out of the way as Quasar quickly blocks all shots with her sword. She jumps in the air and grabs an exhibition that hangs in the air before she jumps on another one to avoid fire. The result is that the misfire destroys every artifact that she climbs on. The Collector sees this and shouts, "No! Stop, stop now!"

Meanwhile, Rocket runs toward the shorter adversary as it does the same: it takes its electric sword out, while holding the tablet in the other hand, and swings it at the raccoon who blocks it with his gun just like the last time, "Good luck breaking it, it's made of indestructible metal." He says.

They stare at each other for a split second before the cloaked figure moves away: as if it just realized something. In fact, Rocket could have sworn that he heard a gasp of realization from the person. Confused yet taking this moment to retaliate Rocket points his gun and manages to shoot.

"Rocket no!" It says in a female voice.

The blue-colored blast paralyzes the person. Rocket smiles momentarily but then looks in horror.

The tablet is sent flying in the air but Peter runs to catch it: he jumps and manages to spare it from being shattered into a million pieces. Peter sighs before is he approached by Ryker, "…I didn't want to believe it at first but somehow I knew…" He takes the tablet from Peter and walks away, "You folks from Halfworld could never be trusted."

"Hey! What's the big deal!?" Peter shouts at the human but is then confronted by several Nova Corps guards who point their rifles at him, "Arrest him."

In the meantime, Phyla is still blocking gunfire but then sees her friend on the floor. She jumps off an exhibition and slams on the ground creating a small crater. Several Nova Corps tries to subdue her but she slashes at them while running. Gamora and Drax chase after her. Drax throws one of his knives at her and manages to slash her shoulder: she yells in pain; however, Phyla turns around and spreads her arms: Drax throws his last knife but it drops right in front of him. Drax and Gamora soon realize that they are inside of a cage made of yellow energy.

Before the Nova Corps can arrest Peter, Quasar runs toward them and releases a yellow blast that causes Peter and the soldiers to fall on their backs. Quasar arrives next to her friend, who is unconscious. Rocket looks up and gasps: he shoots but Quasar blocks every shot that he makes with her shield. She picks up the cloaked animal and attempts to teleport.

Gamora shouts from inside the cage, "No! Don't let them teleport again!"

Peter stands up and runs toward the duo as Rocket does the same, "Wait!" He shouts as both raccoons arrive at the same time: Quasar has just managed to complete her spell and the four disappear from sight. They leave everybody in the room speechless. Cosmo comes out and looks toward Drax and Gamora...


End file.
